Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is clearly recovering nicely after breaking his hip during a nasty fall last week -- 'cause he's now firing off jokes about the situation, calling himself "Humpty Kareem!"
The NBA legend shared an update on his status on his Substack page on Monday ... revealing he was actually on his way to delivering a speech at The Manhattan Transfer's concert on Friday at Disney Hall in Los Angeles when the spill happened.
"I'd like to say I fell while trying to save a child from plunging over a balcony," he wrote, "but I just tripped.